Songs & Secrets

South Africa from Liberation to Governance

"If you picked up this book in the expectation of revelling in the true confessions of a disaffected spy-master – put it back. If you opened this book in the hope of enjoying the confidences of a disillusioned cadre of the South African liberation movement –close it, put it down. If you bought this book in anticipation of a grandparents-to-grave biography of a white man in a black man’s army – shut it now, wrap it up, give it to a friend." (From the Author’s Note) Songs and Secrets is a personal exploration of the ANC from liberation movement to government. It follows the author into the ANC’s military camps in Angola; to Moscow for intelligence training; to the underground in Botswana and into leadership positions in the intelligence services and administration of the new government. It unpacks the oft-ignored conditions in which the ANC government had to try to turn apartheid around. The book investigates the personal, political, psychological and historical realities that gave birth to the new South Africa. Songs and Secrets is written in an anecdotal, cinematic style – providing glimpses into the small and big events that marked the author’s journey through the three decades of history that led South Africa and the ANC to the challenges they face today.